We’re Ordering One of the Last MINI Clubman JCWs!

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We’ve called it the best car MINI makes so today we’re putting our money where our mouth is and ordering one of the last MINI Clubman JCWs. And when we say one of the last, literally one of the last eight allocations in the US. And the process from speccing to ordering to a build date was shockingly quick.

Our Clubman JCW Build

Let’s start with the build itself. This is one of the last ever Clubman and will be a daily for us. So we spared no expense with options. But first let’s talk about the colors inside and out. Consulting with other MF contributors the consensus was Nanuq White originally. However when we learned that MINI was killing Rebel Green with the F54, F56 and F60 JCWs, we couldn’t pass up a chance to have it before it’s gone. And truth is, it’s our favorite factory produced color. The only one better was the one that inspired it – Connaught Green, in the WC50.

Our initial inclination was to make this as performance focused a Clubman as possible. That mean a sunroof delete and manual seats. However the change to Rebel Green and the fact that this was one of the last classic internal combustion MINIs got us thinking. What if we went as classic as possible and created a “modern heritage” spec? We had originally inquired about some unique interior parts from other limited edition models but unfortunately they had all ended production and the parts were no longer in Oxford. So we decided to go with the most classic combination possible – Malt Brown Chesterfield leather seats with white piping and the MINI Yours illuminated Fiber Alloy trim.

To finish it off our first thought was a full white roof. However that Clubman roof is massive and white (or Chili Red) is a lot of roof color to deal with. Our solution came in the form of MINI’s just released Multi-Tone roof. We opted for the White, Melting Silver and Black combo which works perfectly with the modern heritage spec. It also visually reduces the roof and height of the car in back. And if we don’t love it we’ll have Motoringbadges.com wrap it.

As we mentioned above, this will be a daily driver and one that we intend to use for everything from Chicago commuting to cross-country road-trips. Thus we wanted a loaded car with as many comforts as possible. That made MINI USA’s Iconic package a no-brainer as it fully options the car with just about everything conceivable. Key options include the Adaptive Cruise, 40/20/40 split rear seat, Harmon Kardon and the HUD. We would have loved manual seats but work to go through that and still get our order in (more on that in a minute) would have jeopardized the order itself.

Finally a couple of key options for us. Having tracked the Clubman JCW quite a bit, we chose Sport Suspension instead of Adaptive Suspension as it slightly lowers the ride and creates a more eager and adjustable car at the limit. Similarly the 19″ Track-Spoke wheels and tires give the car a more razor edge and look fantastic. That said we’ll be grabbing a pair of winter tires and wheels to make this truly a year round car. Finally roof rails were essential as we plan on using this Clubman for just about everything possible. That includes bikes, skis and who knows what else on top.

How The Hell Did We Get One of the Last Builds?

It’s not because we pulled in any favors. We just followed our own advice and worked early (barely) with a MINI Dealer we knew could make it happen. In our case that was MINI of Glencoe and Evan Williams who simply would not accept defeat. Which was a good thing because we wouldn’t either. As I quickly learned there were eight Clubman JCW allocations left for the US as of Monday November 20th. That meant that dealers had specced the cars (most already sold) and were expecting them to go into production within days. Yes days.

When we told you to order your Clubman asap we didn’t realize how right we were. As can happen it would appear that MINI moved up production end dates for certain models and one of those is the Clubman JCW.

Initially our dealer didn’t have an allocation however they did have a Countryman JCW allocation and were ready to make a trade. Luckily Dreyer Reinbold MINI did and they were just 4 hours away. So MINI USA helped facilitate a quick trade and the order was confirmed that night.

And one week later… our car has entered production. That my friends is just about a record.

We’ll have more on our car as it goes through the production, shipping and delivery process. We’ll also be looking at modifications and accessories along the way. So if you have any favorites you think we should consider, let us know.

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